FIFA and the European Club Association (ECA) have reached an agreement around when players can leave their club teams to prepare for the Women’s World Cup this summer.
Club versus country tensions threatened to derail plans for national teams competing at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
The original date of July 10 — 10 days before the tournament kicks off — had prompted concerns over player welfare and injury risk with the tight schedule.
But while that remains the mandatory release date, a compromise has been reached so that players can now be released from the earlier dates of June 23-29.
A joint statement from FIFA and the ECA read: “The mandatory release date for players remains on 10 July 2023, and where a player has official club matches up to that date, the club is expected to retain the player unless otherwise mutually agreed between the member association and club concerned.
“However, acknowledging that a number of clubs will conclude their domestic season before the start of the tournament, the new consensus agreement has established a non-mandatory release timeframe of 23-29 June 2023 – four weeks ahead of the tournament kick-off on 20 July 2023.
“This new framework strikes the all-important balance between players having sufficient…
 have reached an agreement around when players can leave their club teams to prepare for the Women’s World Cup this summer. Club versus country tensions threatened to derail plans for national teams competing at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand. The original date of July 10 — 10 days before the tournament kicks off — had prompted concerns over player welfare and injury risk with the tight schedule. But while that remains the mandatory release date, a compromise has been reached so that players can now be released from the...){kind=link}